Chaos and accusations have recently in the race to stand against current UK Labour MP Rushanara Ali in the upcoming general election.
Local activist and Muslim preacher Ajmal Masroor announced on Facebook on Wednesday that he “will consider standing (if) all the local major stakeholders stand on one platform and support one candidate.”
The Facebook post has 112 likes after four days.
This comes after the recent announcement of Mohammed Akunjee’s intention to stand as an independent MP via his tweet on X, which has gained an enormous 336,000 views.
Akunjee recently organized a tweet campaign for the International Court of Justice, which has gained over 2.1 million views, and has many other tweets with over 1.5 million views; all of which indicate his large reach, presence and popularity within Bethnal Green and Stepney constituency, within UK and internationally.
Ajmal Masroor is a polarizing figure in Bethnal Green and Stepney and across British politics. He stood against Rushanara Ali in 2017 for the Liberal Democrats, only to be defeated heavily on the ballot with 3,888 votes vs Rushanara Ali’s 42,969. It is unclear how Masroor can gather support and momentum to deliver an election-winning majority.
Amongst many previous roles, Masroor was a fundraiser for the Amirah Foundation, a British charity which the BBC reported had “collapsed amid a probe into alleged financial irregularities (after) an internal review when a whistle-blower spotted unusual transactions.”
Masroor also regularly comments on Bangladeshi politics, often with divisive views. During the 2013 Shahbagh movement supporting the Bangladesh War Crimes tribunals, Masroor was vociferously trying to incite chaos inside Bangladesh. He said: “Politically charged trumped up charges will not stand. You may hang them today, but from their ashes, from their blood and from their hanging, millions will rise to defend their honour tomorrow.”
He claimed that all people attending the Shahbagh movement were “secularists in Bangladesh (who) know nothing about Islam, they are fundamentalist, extremist, there can be no discussion with them. …. Those people leading the Shahbagh movement are characterless, Godless, moral-less, ethical-less, they are worse than animals in the way they talk and behave.”
In an attack on the ruling Amami League, Masroor said: “Nationalism has no space in Islam, nationalism is haram. Without Islam, you are a fish out of water.”
Commenting on Masroor’s desire to enter the election race, local political activist Deba Malique said on Facebook: “Ajmal Masroor is once again attempting to bring his divisive brand of politics to Bethnal Green and it is not what our community needs. We are British citizens of Bangladeshi heritage who are united in their voice against a genocide. What we don’t need is to be racially iconoclast into silos of faith and foreign politics the purpose of which will only fragment the vote, and erode community cohesion.”
Meanwhile, Masroor’s known associate Piru Miah is making false claims in the large WhatsApp group “My Tower Hamlets” about Akunjee by claiming he was not Bangladeshi.
This is despite Akunjee’s parents having been born and educated in Bangladesh and moving to the United Kingdom in the 1970s for his father to pursue a career as a doctor.
Akunjee replied that this was “blatant racism and lies,” adding that he expected better.
In another Facebook exchange, and despite the incontrovertible evidence, Piru Miah accused Deba Malique of spreading false news.
Akunjee replied to Piru Miah: “Please provide me with your solicitors’ details. I would rather write to them directly than to you.”
Piru Miah had not yet replied at the time of writing.
Dhaka Tribune will be covering this battle for the Bethnal Green and Bow seat closely over the next months, as a window into the UK national story of independent candidates taking on Labour candidates because of Labours’ lack of support for a ceasefire in Gaza